1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a metropolitan wide area network for telecommunication systems. In particular, this invention relates to the integration of a wireless point to multi point system operating in the millimeter microwave radio range with an intelligent metropolitan area broadband backbone network to enable a variety of enhanced voice, broadband data and multimedia telecommunication services.
2. Description of Related Art
In the art, point-to-point narrow band, point to multi point narrow band and point to point broadband fixed wireless systems are generally known. Point to multi point radio technology is also a known technology which has been generally used for narrowband communications, such as voice. Narrow band systems are typically systems that are capable of generating at or below 1.544 megabits per second of data in a single circuit or channel, whereas broadband systems are capable of generating data rates above 1.544 megabits per seconds per circuit or channel. While narrowband “point to multi point” systems have been used for voice communications, point to multi point systems have not been generally applied to broadband telecommunications networks.
Today's narrowband point to multi point systems can aggregate a group of up to twenty four 64 kilobits per second channels together in what is called a “T1 line.” However, this T1 line is still considered a narrowband facility when it is used to support multiple voice channels. Narrowband point to multi point systems have also been in use in Europe for voice telephone networks for several years.
Point-to-point broadband technology is also well known. In the 37 Gigahertz or “GHz” to 40 GHz range (typically referred to as “38 GHz”), point-to-point broadband wireless systems are in use. When a 38 GHz broadband wireless links is engineered properly, its performance is functionally equivalent to that of fiber optic telecommunications.
Fixed wireless technology is gaining popularity as means for transmission of telecommunication services because of its low cost, rapid installation and ease of operation. Connecting two sites with point-to-point wireless service largely consists of installing roof top antennas on the top of two buildings, with the accompanying indoor equipment. Physical wires do not have to be connected between the buildings, representing a significant advantage over copper or fiber technology. Bringing fiber or copper to buildings entails tremendous labor and other costs associated with digging up streets, obtaining permits, etc. Because the deployment of broadband fixed wireless systems does not require civil construction in most instances, it is thus faster and more economical to install than traditional methods of “last mile” interconnection in metropolitan area telecommunications networks.
Current 38 GHz fixed wireless technology has a number of characteristics that make it an attractive commercial telecommunications transport medium. The 38 GHz wireless technology provides a high bandwidth path for voice, data, multimedia and video. Current technology permits link distances of up to five miles. Since all millimeter microwave propagation is subject to rainfall degradation, actual distance is a function of geographical location or “rain region.” In climates where heavy rainfall is common, shorter link distances may be required to achieve performance and availability equivalent to that of fiber.
Millimeter wave radio propagation at 38 GHz generally requires unobstructed line-of-sight transmission. In practice, small diameter antennas are mounted on office building rooftops, and in some cases in office building windows. These antennas typically range from 12 to 24 inches in diameter, although smaller antennas are also in use. Manufacturers indicate mean time between failure (MTBF) statistics in excess of 10 years for the radio and modem components, indicating that the hardware is highly reliable. Current 38 GHz fixed wireless technology is therefore ideally suited for high availability broadband point-to-point commercial voice and data applications ranging from 1.544 Megabits per second (T1) to 45 Megabits per second (DS3) capacities.
One example of a typical wireless point-to-point broadband commercial application is the interconnection of multiple servers in a campus local area network (LAN). Another such application is metropolitan wide area networking. Here multiple campus LANs within the same city are interconnected via wireless facilities at 38 GHz. Dedicated access to inter-exchange carriers (IXCs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other alternate access arrangements are common point-to-point business applications for 38 GHz wireless links. In the 38 GHz range, cellular and personal communication services (PCS) operators may deploy high availability wireless facilities in their backbone networks to support back haul between antenna sites, base stations and mobile telephone switching offices (MTSO's). Wireless point-to-point technology at 38 GHz is also being used to provide mission critical protection channels and other point-to-point alternate routing where extension is required from a fiber network to a location that is not served by fiber. Finally, interconnection with the public switched telephone network (PSTN) for the provision of local dial tone by competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) utilizing point-to-point wireless technology at 38 GHZ is becoming increasingly popular.
FIG. 2 illustrates a basic point-to-point wireless facility providing customer interconnection to services. This connection will support broadband (data, video etc.) and narrowband (voice) applications. A customer building is shown as 200 and may contain multiple tenants. It is connected to another building 202 that houses a telecommunications network switch 203. These buildings are connected by a wireless link between two roof top antennas: one antenna 204 at the customer building, the other antenna 205 at the building housing the switch 203. The bandwidth of this connection could be up to 28 T1 circuits, or DS3 (45 Megabits per second). The switch 203 connects to the PSTN 206, or public switched telephone network for local service, and to long distance networks 207 for long distance service. The switch 203 is also able to provide dial up access to the Internet 208.
FIG. 3 is a representation of the FCC spectrum allocation plan for 38 GHz, consisting of 14 total channels. Each channel is 100 MegaHertz (MHZ) in bandwidth. Each 100 MHZ channel consist of two 50 MHZ sub channels, one sub channel to transmit and the other sub channel to receive. These two 50 MHZ sub channels are separated by 700 MHZ of spectrum. As shown in FIG. 3, sub channel 1A is 50 MHZ wide and it is a transmitting channel, whereas sub channel 1B is 50 MHZ wide and it is a receiving channel. Sub channel 1A is separated from sub channel 1B by 700 MHz. This band plan yields 14 channels (1400 MHZ or 1.4 GHz) of spectrum in the FCC allocated 38 to 40 GHz range.
Referring to FIG. 4, a basic spectrum management problem associated with the use of point-to-point wireless systems in a metropolitan area is shown. Because buildings are close to each other in a metropolitan area, the broadcast of information over wireless links may overlap, making the use of the same channel (1A/1B) in contiguous systems impossible. In this figure, one antenna from one building is transmitting its signal to the antenna of the intended receiver, but a portion of the signal is also being received by the antenna on the adjacent building. Such signal corruption is termed “co-channel interference.”
In FIG. 4, a host building 401 containing a switch 402 is connected via four rooftop antennas 403A, 403B, 403C and 403D respectively to remote buildings 404A, 404B, 404C and 404D, each with its own corresponding rooftop antenna. Shown between these buildings is a conceptual representation of the spectrum being utilized by each of these point-to-point wireless systems. As buildings get close together, transmission signals between buildings begin to overlap. To prevent the co-channel interference described in the preceding paragraph, different channels must be used to connect buildings that are in close proximity. For instance, channel 1A/1B is used for building 404D and channel 2A/2B is used for building 404C. Even though channel 1A/1B partially overlaps the transmission of 2A/2B, the use of different frequencies (channels) by the two systems provides protection from co-channel interference. Thus the antenna of one building may be transmitting a portion of its signal to the wrong receiving antenna, but each system is “tuned” to a different frequency and transmission from neighboring systems using other frequencies is ignored.
The frequency management technique shown in FIG. 4 avoids co-channel interference in wireless networks deployed in dense urban areas, however the use of FCC channels to avoid co-channel interference does not maximize the information transport capacity of the licensed spectrum and is therefore inefficient. A solution to this problem is needed.
FIG. 5 illustrates an additional spectrum management problem associated with point-to-point systems. Building 501 connects to Building 502 through channel 1. Building 503 connects to building 504 through channel 2. The solid connection lines 505,506 represent the wireless transmission that is intended. However, because the “transmit beam” is about 2 degrees at the source, signals can be received by other systems that are not planned but happen to be in the range of the transmit beam of the originating system. The dotted line 507 represents such a case, where the system in building 4 incorrectly receives the transmission of the system in building 1. If two distinct frequencies were used, there would be no co-channel interference. Once again, frequency management in point-to-point wireless networks requires the use of multiple channels to avoid interference rather than allowing the spectrum to be used to drive incremental bandwidth.
Rooftop space is expensive and in many cases there are restrictions on the number, size and position of antennas deployed on a roof. Because point-to-point systems use separate antennas for each wireless connection, space becomes a limiting factor on building rooftops. As the number of point-to-point systems located on a building increases, not only do spectrum management considerations limit the number of systems which can be deployed, but the physical space available for each antenna on the roof also constrains the number of systems. Thus, a solution is required which permits the expansion of wireless network capacity, and thus the number of users, without a corresponding increase in the number of antennas rooftops.
Point-to-point systems provide users with what is called a full period connection. Full period connections are “always on” (connected and active), awaiting tile transport of information. Full period wireless connections utilize dedicated spectrum which, once assigned, is unavailable to other users. Point-to-point wireless systems are therefore appropriate for applications involving continuous or lengthy transmissions. Point-to-point systems do not efficiently support variable bit rate or “bursty” data services where the requirement for bandwidth is not constant but rather variable. Bandwidth utilized by point-to-point systems for variable bit rate applications is wasted, as each system utilizes the allocated channel on a full time “always on” basis regardless of the amount of information or the duration of transmissions on the link. A solution is required to more efficiently utilize spectrum for “bursty” data services like LAN to LAN data transmission.
It is an object to create a “full featured” local metropolitan area broadband telecommunications network infrastructure capable of supporting advanced voice and data services.
It is another object to use the wireless spectrum as a key enabler of access to a local metropolitan area broadband telecommunications network offering advanced voice and data services.
It is an object to maximize the utilization of allocated spectrum available in local metropolitan area broadband telecommunications networks.
It is an object to overcome the spectrum management limitations associated with the use of point-to-point fixed wireless telecommunications systems.
It is an object to allow the utilization of multiple channels to drive additional network capacity in local metropolitan area broadband telecommunications networks.
It is an object to minimize the number of wireless telecommunication systems required on rooftops to provide access to local metropolitan area broadband telecommunications networks.